13 October 2005 Press Release Jhb on tap 24/7 Johannesburg Water, the water and sanitation service provider for the City of Johannesburg is well poised to meet the challenges of the growing City. This was the view of his Worship, Councillor Amos Masondo, Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg when he visited the council owned utility' Hursthill reservoir in Mayfair. The Hursthill is one of 87 water reservoirs belonging to Johannesburg Water. The utility also owns and operates 33 water towers, 6 state of the art waste treatment facilities and two South African National System (SANAS) accredited laboratories. Johannesburg Water supplies the City with more than 1 billion litres of fresh, clean, healthy and affordable drinking water each day and is responsible for ensuring that the 900 million litres of waste water generated daily is treated to the high standards demanded by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry. It is charged with maintaining a water network of just under 9800km of pipes and a sewer network of about 9600km of pipes. In the current financial year Johannesburg Water has set aside the sum of R600 million to upgrade and refurbish its water and sanitation infrastructure. Some of the major projects include R262m that will be spent in Soweto on the Operation Gcinamanzi project. Thirteen million rand will be invested for the alternative bulk water supply to Sandton and Alexandra and a further R73m will be spent on rehabilitation of water and sewer mains which include areas such as, Erand, Carlsworld, Ivory Park, Bryanston, Edenburg, Morningside, Olivedale, Honeydew, Lenasia and Ennerdale. About R38m has been set aside for the construction of VIP in previously disadvantage communities and R57m will go towards new water and sewer infrastructure in Alexandra, Diepsloot, Kliptown, Bram Fisherville, Driezek, Cosmo City and Leratong. JW will also carry out refurbishment work at its Wastewater treatment works to accommodate all the new developments The quality of Johannesburg's tap water has been rated as amongst the best in the world. To ensure that this status is maintained, Johannesburg Water routinely samples over 500 drinking water samples per month. Tap water samples are taken from the bulk supply to reservoirs and across the City including samples from informal settlements and camps. Johannesburg Water recently launched its Customer Charter. The Charter is a bold statement by Johannesburg through which it commits itself to meeting stated service standards and levels, an indication that the Utility is fast reaching optimal operational efficiency. Johannesburg Water remains committed to ensuring that service levels improve continuously as it strives towards providing Johannesburg, Africa's World Class City, with world class water and sanitation services. Issued on behalf of Gerald T Dumas Managing Director Johannesburg Water (Pty) Limited Issued by: Jameel Chand Senior Manager: Marketing and Communication 688 1545 082 452 0694